Daughter Of Atlantis Chapter 1: The Titanic (Novel Concept)

Author's Note: Okay so before anybody start asking me why I write so much, this is an old novel concept I had written like 2 years ago. I have like a few chapters of them and I felt like sharing them to you all and see what do you think. I've polished the grammar and everything, so it isn't as crusty, let me know what you think in the comments please.
Okay, so I forgot to mention, this is a classic isekai reincarnation into a baby, so we'll see the main character's childhood and how they grow up progressively while exploring and learning about this new world, while also facing many challenges.

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The halls of the Titanic were bustling with people moving everywhere. Butlers carried all sorts of colorful drinks to the fancy guests sitting around small tables, while the music of fine composers in the background enhanced the beautiful party atmosphere I had dreamed of experiencing with my parents for so long.

Now that I’d reached my eighteenth year, my parents had finally allowed me to join them at the bar for what they called a “first taste” of alcohol—even though I’d sampled it plenty of times over the past two years. Behind their backs, of course.

I still couldn’t believe we’d managed to get tickets for this fantastic ship.

“Not even God himself could sink this ship!” said my father as he downed another tequila with my mother.

“Dear, you’ve been saying that for the last hour… You really love that phrase, don’t you?” my mother sighed.

Every time I glanced at my parents, I saw a perfect couple. My father was a handsome businessman with an elegant demeanor and a strong, commanding presence, yet a loving and caring husband and father. I’d be lying if I said he hadn’t spoiled me plenty of times.

And my mother was a beauty among beauties—a theater singer with long red hair and aquamarine eyes that could kill. Her slender figure and beautiful voice made her a maiden among maidens.

I sometimes wondered if I could ever grow into such a beautiful woman…

I looked around the room as people wandered in and out, sometimes making me dizzy. The scent of alcohol intensified the atmosphere, and the bright lights spread everywhere promised a night I’d probably never forget.

Such beauty… I wondered if any trip would ever be as memorable as this one.

“Dear, what’s wrong? You haven’t touched your little cup of wine,” said my mother.

“But Mom, this is just plain wine—it’s so… simplistic. Can’t I get something more elaborate like you?” I asked.

My father burst into laughter.

“Hahaha! My little princess is really growing into a woman now… Dear, you should start with wine. My father made me taste a fine cup when I turned eighteen, so it’s a family tradition in a way. You can explore more… delicate flavors as you grow,” he said. Whenever he got drunk, he shed his stoic demeanor and became a jovial man, always laughing and smiling. I suppose this effect of alcohol further cemented his love for it.

“Sigh… Fine,” I sighed, then downed the entire cup of wine in one go, without hesitation.

I’d already moved past the initial disgust of my first drink. The flavor of wine was something I’d grown used to after my various escapades with friends after school.

“W-What? She drank it in one go…” my mother said, shocked.

“Hahaha! That’s my girl! Bring another! Oi, you bastard, come here and serve my daughter! Her happiness is worth more than your yearly salary!” my father laughed, ordering a butler who shot me a bitter look.

“Y-Yes, sir!”

The man quickly served me another cup of wine, but I didn’t want more…

“Father, let me drink whisky at the very least…” I sighed.

“W-Whisky? That’s too much for a child, dear,” said my mother.

“Ughh… Come on, we’re on the Titanic—we can do whatever we want!” I protested.

“Hahaha! Well said, dear! But that doesn’t mean you’re drinking whisky,” said my father.

Whisky was one thing I hadn’t tasted yet, and my friends constantly praised its flavor—something I envied every time…

My mother caressed my head; she seemed slightly drunk.

“My little dear Melissa… You’re so cute and vibrant tonight… When we get home, I’ll buy you a pretty dress… Fufu…” she giggled. She always treated me like a doll to dress up when she got drunk—more peculiar than my father’s antics.

“Mother, I already have over a hundred dresses—”

…

A sudden thunderous sound echoed across the entire Titanic. Silence gripped the hall, which had been filled with chatter so loud I could barely hear my parents beside me.

What was that?

It felt as if thunder had struck the ship from the sky.

My heartbeat faster and faster as people around me realized something was wrong.

“D-Dear… Come here…” my mother said, her voice trembling with fear. Her hands shook as I moved to her side, just as scared. I didn’t know what was happening, but the worst scenario was already blooming in my mind.

Suddenly, the floor tilted slightly, and everything on the tables began to fall. The sound of countless glass bottles and cups shattering on the ground rang out like a sharp sonata of broken dreams.

“What…? What’s happening?” my father asked, confused, looking around at the frozen crowd. Everyone seemed unwilling to believe what was unfolding, clinging to a desperate hope that this was a minor glitch, not the worst.

But my mind raced to the worst possibility.

It couldn’t be!

The Titanic… it was built to never sink.

They said even God couldn’t sink it.

So what’s… happening?

RUMBLE!

Another thunderous sound reverberated through the ship, as if something inside was breaking apart. I gritted my teeth in anxiety as my parents stood up.

“W-What’s happening!? Oi!” my father roared, watching the butlers flee. They opened the doors, only for a wave of water to burst into the grand hall.

SPLASH!

That’s when the screams of horror began.

“Aaaaaah!”

“Help! Someone!”

“Run! To the corridors there!”

“Wait, stop!”

Another person tried to open a sealed door, and water poured in from there too.

We were on the wrong side of the ship, already submerged.

All escape routes only led to more water flooding the room.

I breathed heavily, my lips trembling in fear.

The shadow of death loomed behind me. Its cold scythe brushed my neck, sending shivers through my paralyzed body.

“No! Fuck! There has to be a way! There has to be a way! How can this goddamn ship sink?! They said it would never sink!!!” my father roared, frantically searching for an escape.

“Mom… Are we going to die?” I asked.

My mother looked at me with her bright aquamarine eyes, fear plain in them. She tried to hold back tears but couldn’t. We were cornered, barely clinging to each other as my father shouted in frustration. Deep down, we’d already given up.

There was no escape; the hall was sinking. People swam in the deeper areas, screaming, attacking each other in fits of anger and despair.

I didn’t even know what had hit the Titanic.

In his desperation, my father grabbed a butler who’d run in from outside before the water could sweep him away. Gripping his neck, teeth clenched in fury, I saw a side of my father I’d never witnessed.

Was this the true nature of a human?

“What the fuck is happening?! Answer me if you don’t want me to cut your throat!” he roared.

“An iceberg! A giant block of ice! T-They say there was nothing the captain could do! It wasn’t even predicted! No one could’ve known a fucking iceberg would show up!” the butler cried.

“An iceberg?!”

“You’re kidding me!”

“Is this a bad joke?”

“But they said it couldn’t sink!”

“Well, that was clearly bullshit!”

“Papa, I don’t want to die!”

“What do we do?! What do we do?!”

SPLASH!

As if God were hastening our demise, more water flooded the hall, sweeping away most of the people—including my father. He was dragged off by the merciless hands of Poseidon before I could even say goodbye…

“FATHEEER! Aggghh…!”

The water filled the hall more and more. I sank several times, struggling to swim up, swallowing who-knows-how-much seawater.

My mother held my hand through it all, pulling me up until we reached the last pocket of air. A few people beside us were desperate—praying, crying, hugging each other.

It was already the end…

“Mom… I love you…” I sobbed.

“I love you too… dear… T-Take this with you…” she cried, fumbling to remove something precious.

A pendant with a beautiful aquamarine crystal—a sapphire.

She’d worn it as long as I could remember, never taking it off until now.

“It was gifted to me by my father… He said a mermaid gave it to him… It’s a luck charm… Keep it…” she wept, her tears mixing with the salty, cold water. Our bodies were already ice-cold.

“M-Mom… I-I can’t move… It’s hard to swim…” I muttered.

“I won’t let you sink… Mama’s here for you… Okay?”

My mother hugged me tightly, her arms wrapped around me as the water rose, centimeter by centimeter.

I cried, pressing my face against her cold chest as she held me as tightly as she could.

The last bubble of air filled with water. Our bodies grew too weak to move an inch. We sank slowly, my mind fading as I glanced into my mother’s eyes one last time…

Mom, Dad…

…

Darkness and coldness…

The only two things I could feel.

The darkness engulfed my mind, and the coldness devoured every inch of my body.

Yet within the darkness, a strange voice whispered to me…

[Oh, children of the gifted, you have a wish to ask of me]

The voice of a man echoed in the void…

It sounded like a man in his late fifties or older, brimming with wisdom and power…

Was I hallucinating?

Did he ask me for a wish?

Wish?

What… wish would I want?

I want…

I…

I want to turn back time…

[That cannot be done. Only Cronos can turn back time, but even he dares not, for meddling with time brings only disaster]

Then…

Then… I… I don’t want to die…

[You have already died, children of the gifted]

…I did?

Then… where am I?

[Is your wish to know this?]

No… I won’t be tricked by that…

Then… please… somehow… I…

[I understand that even the smallest soul desires to live. It is natural in all mortals. I will give you a second chance. Dear child of the gifted, live this life to the fullest. I will be watching over you…]

The man’s voice grasped my unspoken desire. A bright blue light suddenly consumed the darkness enveloping me.

I guess I had already died…

But he said… a second chance?

I wish… I could’ve turned back time to stop the Titanic from sinking… or at least never boarded it…

But what I was offered… was something different.

Something I never thought I’d experience.

I felt my being washed through warm liquid, a gentle hand pulling my head out of a tight, slippery space…

When I opened my eyes, I was in a small wooden cabin. A beautiful woman with long azure hair and turquoise eyes smiled at me tenderly.

I was… in the body of a baby.

I reincarnated?!

“I’m so happy… She came without complications… Good work…” said a handsome man with blonde hair and emerald eyes, caressing my head and kissing my forehead. I noticed he was missing his left arm.

“Hmm… I’m so happy she came out well… She’s healthy and so calm… I’ve never seen a child who didn’t scream when born…” said the beautiful woman holding me.

Ah… So I really… was brought back to life in another body?

Reincarnation…

Even though I should be happy, I couldn’t help but feel overwhelming sorrow.

My parents.

Mother, Father…

And I’d never get to say goodbye to my grandparents… my aunts, my friends…

Everything I left behind.

It was so painful.

I couldn’t help but cry like a baby.

“Oh, she started crying… There, there, dear… Everything’s okay…” said the woman holding me tenderly. Her voice somehow soothed my heart, and her eyes calmed my sorrow.

Is she my mother?

She’s so pretty….

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